Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development , Donville Inniss. (FP)
A full review of the International Business Sector has already commenced with a view to making changes to the legislation that governs the island’s international business and financial services sector.
This disclosure came from Minister of Industry, International Business and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss, as he addressed the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB) International Business Workshop at Hilton Barbados recently.
He told his audience that “we have to be far more proactive and realise that there are some inherent dangers to the present suite of legislation which must be amended”.
Mr. Inniss said: “Our design is to have a product mix that fits into global standards, ensuring greater substance in our jurisdiction and better positions Barbados to be a more significant domicile for international business…”
The Minister of Industry also hinted at changes to the existing tax rates as work moves ahead on the new regime for international business and financial services. He made a case for greater exploitation of the island’s foreign exchange earning potential and engagement on matters regarding risk and compliance and the best practices that can “be deployed in our jurisdiction”.
“So, members of ICAB, we are now poised to restructure, re-engage and redirect Barbados’ international business and financial services sector to make an even greater contribution to our economy. Part of that restructuring must include methodologies that would allow us to better measure the contribution of the international business and financial services sector to the economy,” Mr. Inniss underlined.
The Minister noted that a team comprising primarily public officers and the Barbados International Business Association had been assembled to “look at devising such mechanisms, that would allow us to better define the international business and financial services sectors, capture the data on the sectors and to be able to report in a timely fashion [for] making informed decisions about the sector”.